Real Wedding - Okeoma & Dave, Punto de Vista/Manuel Antonio

Every so often, a bride comes along who is really into her wedding - head over heels into every detail and loving every single second of it. Okeoma was just such a bride and an absolute gem to work with. A true whirlwind of incredibleness, Okeoma not only had time to create an amazing blog Barrister Bride AND be chosen to be a Bee on Weddingbee (she's now Mrs. Pancakes) but she also finished her law degree, moved from the US to Amsterdam for school and moved back to New York two weeks before the wedding. Whew! Accomplished, creative and incredibly stylish. Did I mention she's also a total sweetheart? She and I, being total Type A's (in the best way!) instantly clicked and we worked for months to create a look we called ' Jungle Fairy'.This was one of my all-time favourite weddings to work on and the folks over at Ruffled Blog (purveyors of incredibly stylish weddings from round the world) fell in love with it as well, featuring it a few weeks ago!Dave is a surfer from Manhattan Beach (when I told them the owner of Punto de Vista was also from there originally, the location was a done deal :)  At the beginning of the ceremony, Dave's parents sprinkled some sand from his hometown onto the Costa Rican beach so Dave could marry on a little piece of Manhattan Beach.Being we were at the beginning of the rainy season in a rainforest, we opted to have a morning wedding to avoid the usual late afternoon showers. After the beautiful ceremony conducted by Dave's father (not a dry eye on the beach!), the 49 guests headed back to the stunning villa for "The Bestest Brunch" on the 4th floor terrace. The decor was vintage with soft pastel colors of pink, green, blue, white and yellow.Ribbons were a through-line with all the decor = the canopy featured over 2000 feet of ribboning (yes, that is over two thousand feet!!).Mason jars filled with flowers were attached with ribbons to bamboo chairs.We made ribbon wands using dowels with ribbons and bells for guests to 'give a shake to celebrate' at the end of the ceremony A water bar was set up for guests to mix cold water with fresh limes or starfruit in mason jars with cheery striped straws.Okeoma had a variety of vintage hankies she'd purchased in Amsterdam for the ladies to help wipe away their tears of joy.Heading up to the 4th floor, they were treated to the "Bestest Brunch". Okeoma and Dave LOVE brunch - seriously head over heels, love brunch. The Bestest Brunch had the following delicacies:Pancake bar with 3 batters (Buttermilk,  Whole wheat,  Banana Batter)  Drizzles-   Vanilla maple, mixed berry, ginger pineapple, honey Toppings-   Chocolate chips, seasonal fruits, shredded coconut Sugared beignets  Pop tart-sickles  Breakfast potatoes  Gallo pinto  Eggs, salsa ranchera, tortillas  Café au lait, juices, pink punch with champagne, iced coffee. Serious YUM!Love how the bottles of condiments featured handwriting on the glass!Mmmm, beignets...Long tables were set up with jute runners (made from repurposed coffee bags)  lined with lace, mason jars and vintage bottles held roses, orchids, gladiolas, fresh herbs - the look we were going for was 'running through a field, grabbing fresh flowers and putting them in whatever glass was available'. Pretty but relaxed with a vintage charm.Okeoma really wanted mixed antique plates but it was impossible to find any here in Costa Rica so we custom made napkins out of different vintage-looking fabric instead to give that 'jumbled' look.We had hand-painted wooden signs for the buffet and bar, huge chalkboards as seating charts and tons of paper pom poms hanging from the ceiling. Stroopwafels from Amsterdam finished off each place setting as a thank you from the couple. And hundreds of ribbons decorated all the chairs.Even the monkeys wanted to get in on the fun!After brunch, Dave and Okeoma took portraits around the villa, which is an architectural wonder!After a leisurely afternoon of napping or surfing , guests returned at 8 PM to the 5th floor rooftop terrace, which was covered with a clear tent from which was suspended swags of Christmas lights and a crystal chandelier (you have no idea how hard it was to find one to rent in Costa Rica! I passed by a dress shop with 5 in the window display and convinced them to rent one to us).We rented funky vintage-looking lounge furniture,  custom-made pillow cases with 'Awesome Together' embroidered on them (the wedding's tagline), filled antique silver pieces with flowers and framed mirrors displayed the goodies for the...Awesome apart, Better Together Sweets BarA delicious Devils cake with chili/chocolate ganache & cream cheese filling was decorated with soft pink peonies created by chef Chelsea of Mariposa Bakery  (a true work of art!), displayed on an antique milk glass stand. Other goodies included  brownie pops,  blondie pops ice cream sandwiches with chocolate chip cookies,  red velvet mini cupcakes w/buttercream icing, minicarrot cupcakes with buttercream icing.Passed late night munchies  of Fish Tacos, Mac and cheese, Mini sliders (beef and vegetarian), Mini grilled cheese and tomato soup shooters and Root Beer floats kept folks fortified.Dancing to a great DJ (and boy, did these folks know how to shake a booty) and instead of a guest book, people signed a ukelele - the first gift Okeoma every gave Dave.To end the night, guests sent sky lanterns off into the star-filled sky, with their wishes and love for Dave and Okeoma floating out into the Universe and beyond. It was a stylish, unique wedding that reflected this couple perfectly. I adored working with Okeoma and seeing how all the creative ideas and beautiful elements came together in such a gorgeous way.Luckily, we had the remarkable Julie Comfort  of  Comfort Studio behind the lens to capture every beautiful, fun moment. Congratulations again, Okeoma and Dave, and a huge gracias for allowing the Weddings Costa Rica team to be part of all the creative fun!